Depends what you mean by intelligence, but i would argue that there would be more conflict.
People who do not move, do not notice their chains.
this post was submitted on 10 May 2026
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I remember 20y ago thinking the internet was creating a sort of intellectual "travelator", where some people would get on and be launched far ahead of the rest. The result would be a huge division in intelligence across society, which would lead to a feeling of disenfranchisement and civil unrest.
So no, if everyone's intelligence went up by 50% of their own intelligence, you'd just have more of the same problem.
I believe public education is vital, but we didn't place enough emphasis on the importance of uniform funding across districts and states, rather than having "good schools" and "bad schools".
No, the conflicts would simply be more damaging.
Humans, regardless of intelligence, are destructive. More intelligence just means more destruction.
We are the Fermi paradox made flesh.
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No, we would just use it for better confict
Probably not. In fact if you mean everyone gets smarter starting tomorrow but up til today we're in the same crappy world as always, that's probably a disaster. Yeah we have some sociopath criminals in high places, but lots more of them are in prison or doing really dumb things (there's a tv show about them, "world's dumbest criminals"). Now imagine they suddenly get a whole lot smarter. Everyone else also becoming smarter won't help that much.
If you mean human evolution somehow went on a different path making all humans smarter all the way back to prehistoric times, then it's harder to say, but it doesn't sound so great either.
Emotional intelligence isn't the answer either, for the same sorts of reasons. Maybe there's a separate thing called "wisdom" but there will always be gaps.
You might like HPMOR, a Harry Potter fanfic novel that philosophizes a lot about these types of questions. It's at hpmor.com. Warning, the main character is insufferable a lot of the time, especially near the beginning. So you might hate it, in which case feel free to quit after a few chapters.
For a more positive take, try the science novel "Protector" by Larry Niven.
I keep seeing this type of comment but people seem to ignore that everyone is increasing their intelligence. The malicious, and the benevolent.
I don't see that as helping much, at least without creating a horrible police state. Imagine thousands or millions of James Bond villains or other mad scientists running around and finding ways to evade detection. Making the cops smarter only goes so far.
If it could be raised enough to keep people from voting Republican the world would improve pretty damn quick!
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Did you ever see a downie fight? World would probably more peaceful if it went down 50% or more given people had what they needed